I consider myself to be someone who possesses a pretty decent amount of flexibility. More so than the average person, actually. I can handle a lot when it comes to other people's habits and practices in their daily life, and when you live with a roommate or loved one, its a quality of great importance. Mine, however, stops at the toilet paper roll.
My current roommate seems to be a fairly normal girl. She's responsible, has a steady job and has all appearances of not being crazy. All good things. She may be a bit "granola", but not to an unhealthy degree. For starters, she is preparing her own pile of compost for a spring garden. The large pile is out in the backyard, but she collects a container's worth of compost-ready materials almost weekly, and stores this container on the kitchen counter. Most people would find this disgusting, I mean I do, but I look past it. It doesn't smell and hasn't attracted a sleuth of fruit flies or other bugs, so aside from being able to see the food product remains sitting there on the counter (a clear container was not the best choice), it doesn't bother me.
I even look past the fact that when she leaves in the morning (generally before I wake up) she turns the heat down as if I'm not in need of the same luxury while I'm getting ready for work. I've even told her that she doesn't need to do this because it's something that I am perfectly capable of doing when I leave the house. Old habits die hard, I guess. Not to mention the amount of noise she makes while getting ready, which is generally anywhere between 6am-730am. It's not as if I am lazy and wake up late. To me, getting up at 8am-830am isn't late. Especially when my work day doesn't start until 11am. Am I wrong for wanting her to dial it down a bit in those early hours, so as to not disturb my slumber? I get home around 1130pm on my work days. That's not THAT late, but I understand that it's late for some and make every effort to be quiet as a mouse when I get home. The fact that I'm not given the same courtesy doesn't really bother me. It's just one of those things you have to deal with when living with someone else.
Just. Don't. Touch. My. Toilet. Paper. The toilet paper needs to hang from the holder facing a certain direction, and that direction is facing you, pulling from the top of the roll. This pulling from behind the roll business is unacceptable! It appears as if I'm having a "battle of rolls" with myself, because I'm fairly certain that my roommate couldn't care less either way. Sometimes she places it with the roll facing backwards, and other times she places it the correct way. I just simply correct the roll if placed improperly, but do so begrudgingly because it seems unfathomable to me why anyone would ever place it incorrectly to begin with. I've been told once before that the proper way to place a roll is, in fact, what I consider to be the improper way. At least according to Feng Shui. BOLLUCKS! That is complete and utter horse-s***! Stay away, Feng Shui.....STAY AWAY!
One would think that the obvious solution to this would be to simply ask my roommate to place the roll in the way that I like if she finds herself in the position of changing it (often times I try to time it so that I'm the one changing the roll so I can avoid the possibility of an improperly placed one), but I'm far too embarrassed to reveal my true feelings on the subject.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
When Life Is Not Enough
I have started a few of these in the past. Any hand-written journal or diary I have ever started has met the same fate: a slow and steady demise in to the dusty confines of my dresser drawer, never to be touched again. I have a sneaking suspicion that this one won't be any different. Surely this blog will get lost somewhere in the never-ending boundaries of the internet, but one can always hope......can't they? Anyway, here's a quick background to get things rolling.
I've been working as a nurse for the last seven years and had always wanted to do travel nursing at some point, but wanted to get some experience under my belt first. I started off in Northern California, where I worked for just over a year, and on a whim decided to move down to Orange County. How that all happened is a bit surreal. I was down visiting my sister when I decided to take a little detour through the area to get a feel for the what was out there. I stopped at two hospitals and filled out online applications at each. The first was a small hospital. Small in the context of coming from a 540 bed, 10-story teaching hospital. I was wearing a short skirt, tank top and flip-flops and the gentleman in the HR department insisted that I go ahead and meet the manager of the ER there for an interview. I did, and they loved me so much that they offered me the position right there. Thankfully I had enough wits about me to tell them I needed to think it over. All I kept thinking about was how much I couldn't stand the manager's smoker voice and yellow teeth. Not to mention it doesn't speak well to their over-all professionalism when they offer to hire me right there when I hardly even looked the part.
The second hospital was right on the water in Newport Beach. I filled out their application then started my journey home. I think I was only a few hours in to my drive when the secretary of the department called me to set-up and interview. I thought, "this can't be happening! Two different hospitals on the same day contacting me so quickly?". I told her that I lived up north, but would be interested in coming down in a couple weeks to interview, and that was that. I flew down two weeks later where once again, I was offered a position right then and there (yay me for apparently having such amazing interview skills!). I had a much better feel about this place. They gave me a tour of the department, introduced me to staff who immediately made me feel at home and welcome, and while I wanted to jump up and scream, "YES!", I maintained what little composure I had and told them I would think about it and let them know within a week. Two days later I told them I accept, and a month after that I was officially an Orange County Resident.
I loved my job there. Absitively, posolutely loved it! On top of that, I was moving up the proverbial ladder much more quickly than I ever thought I would. I became the youngest MICN and relief charge nurse they had within 2.5 years which is pretty neat. That's really what kept me there. SoCal has a lot to offer in terms of places to see and things to do. The people, however......well they kinda suck and exude all that is shallow. I didn't want to leave, though. I had friends there and loved everyone that I worked with so much. Plus it was such a great resume builder that I thought it was silly of me to leave. Finally one day I said to myself, "Self, if you don't do it now you're going to regret it. Do it now, before you get settled and start a family. Travel nursing, HERE I COME!"
So here I am, in Eastern MA about 45 min SE of Boston. I have been here since August 15. I drove out here with my dad and my dog, Kona. The first three months I lived in a really neat loft apartment in Tiverton, RI which is about 20min out of Providence. The complex was actually an old cotton mill that had been refurbished. I loved the apartment, but once I decided to extend my contract for another three months I figured I would move somewhere closer to work (I had a 30min commute) and where there were more things going on. So here I am in New Bedford, MA. It's a whaling port that dates back hundreds of years and actually is the backdrop to Moby Dick. However, it's not the nicest area. A good portion of the people don't even have a full set of teeth, but it is what it is.
Let me give you a little info on travel nursing here. You generally get to pick and choose where you go. You tell the agency you're working with what area you're wanting to go to and about a month before you're wanting to start the agency will let you know what contracts are available. You choose from those, and they submit your profile to the hospitals who call you for a phone interview if they feel you look good on paper. The contracts are generally for 13 weeks, though some are shorter and some longer. The agency will either find housing for you (and pay your rent and most utilities), or you can set up your own housing and get a weekly living stipend which is usually more than enough to cover your monthly expenses. It's a pretty sweet deal in that aspect. So let's see where this journey leads me!
I'm not really sure what I intend this blog to be. Is it a place for me just to get my thoughts down on "paper"? Is it something I want to advertise and have people actually read? Is it a way for me to keep track of my traveling? Who the hell knows?! Maybe I'll figure that out somewhere down the line.
I've been working as a nurse for the last seven years and had always wanted to do travel nursing at some point, but wanted to get some experience under my belt first. I started off in Northern California, where I worked for just over a year, and on a whim decided to move down to Orange County. How that all happened is a bit surreal. I was down visiting my sister when I decided to take a little detour through the area to get a feel for the what was out there. I stopped at two hospitals and filled out online applications at each. The first was a small hospital. Small in the context of coming from a 540 bed, 10-story teaching hospital. I was wearing a short skirt, tank top and flip-flops and the gentleman in the HR department insisted that I go ahead and meet the manager of the ER there for an interview. I did, and they loved me so much that they offered me the position right there. Thankfully I had enough wits about me to tell them I needed to think it over. All I kept thinking about was how much I couldn't stand the manager's smoker voice and yellow teeth. Not to mention it doesn't speak well to their over-all professionalism when they offer to hire me right there when I hardly even looked the part.
The second hospital was right on the water in Newport Beach. I filled out their application then started my journey home. I think I was only a few hours in to my drive when the secretary of the department called me to set-up and interview. I thought, "this can't be happening! Two different hospitals on the same day contacting me so quickly?". I told her that I lived up north, but would be interested in coming down in a couple weeks to interview, and that was that. I flew down two weeks later where once again, I was offered a position right then and there (yay me for apparently having such amazing interview skills!). I had a much better feel about this place. They gave me a tour of the department, introduced me to staff who immediately made me feel at home and welcome, and while I wanted to jump up and scream, "YES!", I maintained what little composure I had and told them I would think about it and let them know within a week. Two days later I told them I accept, and a month after that I was officially an Orange County Resident.
I loved my job there. Absitively, posolutely loved it! On top of that, I was moving up the proverbial ladder much more quickly than I ever thought I would. I became the youngest MICN and relief charge nurse they had within 2.5 years which is pretty neat. That's really what kept me there. SoCal has a lot to offer in terms of places to see and things to do. The people, however......well they kinda suck and exude all that is shallow. I didn't want to leave, though. I had friends there and loved everyone that I worked with so much. Plus it was such a great resume builder that I thought it was silly of me to leave. Finally one day I said to myself, "Self, if you don't do it now you're going to regret it. Do it now, before you get settled and start a family. Travel nursing, HERE I COME!"
So here I am, in Eastern MA about 45 min SE of Boston. I have been here since August 15. I drove out here with my dad and my dog, Kona. The first three months I lived in a really neat loft apartment in Tiverton, RI which is about 20min out of Providence. The complex was actually an old cotton mill that had been refurbished. I loved the apartment, but once I decided to extend my contract for another three months I figured I would move somewhere closer to work (I had a 30min commute) and where there were more things going on. So here I am in New Bedford, MA. It's a whaling port that dates back hundreds of years and actually is the backdrop to Moby Dick. However, it's not the nicest area. A good portion of the people don't even have a full set of teeth, but it is what it is.
Let me give you a little info on travel nursing here. You generally get to pick and choose where you go. You tell the agency you're working with what area you're wanting to go to and about a month before you're wanting to start the agency will let you know what contracts are available. You choose from those, and they submit your profile to the hospitals who call you for a phone interview if they feel you look good on paper. The contracts are generally for 13 weeks, though some are shorter and some longer. The agency will either find housing for you (and pay your rent and most utilities), or you can set up your own housing and get a weekly living stipend which is usually more than enough to cover your monthly expenses. It's a pretty sweet deal in that aspect. So let's see where this journey leads me!
I'm not really sure what I intend this blog to be. Is it a place for me just to get my thoughts down on "paper"? Is it something I want to advertise and have people actually read? Is it a way for me to keep track of my traveling? Who the hell knows?! Maybe I'll figure that out somewhere down the line.
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